Longhorns

August 01, 2013

Texas A&M landed the No. 6 spot in today’s preseason coaches poll, the school’s highest starting point since 1995 and part of an SEC blitz that saw league teams capture five of the Top 10 spots, including the No. 1 ranking that went to Alabama.

Alabama, the two-time defending BCS champ, earned 58 of 61 first-place votes to finish comfortably ahead of No. 2 Ohio State with three top votes. Rounding out the Top 10, in order, were Oregon, Stanford, Georgia, A&M, South Carolina, Clemson, Louisville and Florida.

The Big 12 landed four teams in the poll, with TCU opening at No. 20 and Texas at No. 15. Oklahoma State, at No. 14, received the most support from voters among Big 12 teams (726 points), followed by Texas (622 points) and No. 15 Oklahoma (620 points). TCU finished with 400 points. Big 12 schools Baylor and Kansas State were unranked but finished among the top 30 schools in total votes.

For the Aggies, who posted an 11-2 record and finished No. 5 in both final polls last season, the starting spot is A&M’s highest since 1995, when the team finished 9-3 in the final season of the Southwest Conference. A&M returns quarterback Johnny Manziel, the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner, and was the only school to defeat Alabama during the Crimson Tide’s 13-1 march to last year’s BCS title.

SEC schools placed the most teams in the inaugural poll, with six. The Pac-12 had five teams, with UCLA (No. 21), Southern California (No. 24) and Oregon State (No. 25) grabbing thee of the last five available spots. Notre Dame, which lost to Alabama 42-14 in last year’s BCS title game, opened at No. 11.

July 29, 2013

The Longhorn Network will televise the Texas-Kansas game, Nov. 3 in Austin, network officials announced today. The contest will kick off at 2:30 p.m. It marks the third LHN telecast of a Texas home game this season, joining contests against New Mexico State (Aug. 31) and Ole Miss (Sept. 14).

Single-game ticket sales begin today for the University of Texas’ home football games. Prices range from a low of $45 for seats to the Aug. 31 opener against New Mexico State to $85 for premium seats for home games against Ole Miss (Sept. 14), Kansas State (Sept. 21) and Oklahoma State (Nov. 16).

Fans can order only by visiting www.TexasSports.com or by calling 800-982-2386.

July 23, 2013

Kansas State linebacker Tre Walker drew attention in Monday’s opening session of the Big 12 media days by saying that Texas “laid down” in the fourth quarter of the Wildcats’ 42-24 victory last season in Manhattan, Kan.

Walker said: “Texas laid down against us. It’s what they do.”

A pair of Longhorns responded today.

“We’re Texas. We don’t quit,” said offensive guard Trey Hopkins. “We don’t have a reputation for being quitters.”

Safety Adrian Phillips said: “Everybody’s entitled to their opinion. They won the game. If he thinks like that, then that’s just his thought. It’s a new season, so when that game comes around, we’ll just have to see.”

The teams meet Sept. 21 in Austin. Kansas State has won the last five meetings between the schools.

Texas quarterback David Ash cleared up a lingering question today about the timetable of a rib injury that impacted him in last year's 20-13 loss to TCU on Thanksgiving night.

Ash said he suffered broken ribs on the eighth play of that contest but stayed in the game, eventually completing 10-of-21 passes for 104 yards, with two interceptions. He was eventually replaced by backup Case McCoy, who threw for 110 yards but also suffered an interception.

Ash wound up skipping Texas' next game, a 42-24 loss at Kansas State, before returning as the starter in a 31-27 victory over Oregon State in the Alamo Bowl to cap a 9-4 season. There had been conflicting reports last season about whether Ash was injured during the TCU game or the week before, against Iowa State. Here is Ash's recollection of last year's TCU game:

“The TCU game, I broke my ribs on the eighth play," Ash said. "I think I played till the third quarter, maybe the fourth quarter. It was a tough situation because, on the one hand, I knew I was missing a lot of throws that I normally would make. Where was that point that I was hurting the team? I don’t know. I learned from it. It was a tough situation. I did the best I could in a lot of ways. In a lot of ways, there’s so much regret.”

May 31, 2013

Texas president Bill Powers said today he is “absolutely confident” that the Longhorns’ programs will rebound next season in football, men’s basketball and baseball after down years during the 2012-13 school year. Texas finished 9-4 in football, 16-18 in men’s basketball and finished last in the Big 12 in baseball.

“The programs are good,” Powers said. “There will always be ups and downs, wins and losses. I’m looking forward to next season.”

Powers also said he was “very gratified” by last week’s support from members of the Texas legislature during hearings with system regents.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby announced today that his league will distribute a league-record $198 million in revenues to its 10 members for the 2012-13 school year.

The revenue distributions, announced at the conclusion of the Big 12 spring meetings in Irving, break down to approximately $22 million per school for the league’s eight charter members. First-year members TCU and West Virginia each will receive half-shares of $11 million as part of a four-year phase-in agreement put in place when those schools agreed to join the Big 12.

Even as half-share recipients, the $11 million represents a significant jump in revenues from last year for TCU and West Virginia. TCU was a member of the Mountain West last year, where it never earned more than $2 million in any school year. West Virginia competed in the Big East.

For the other members, the $22 million is the largest per-school take in Big 12 history. It also exceeds today’s announced distribution of revenues in the Southeastern Conference, which passed out $20.7 million per school ($289.4 million total) to its 14 members, including Texas A&M.

Bowlsby said the Big 12 distribution numbers, derived primarily from television contracts, bowls and NCAA basketball tournament appearances, will only increase in future years. Bowlsby said projected revenues will reach $30 million per school by 2015-16, the first year that TCU and West Virginia will receive full shares, and could top $40 million by the end of the league’s existing television contracts with Fox and ESPN that run through the 2024-2025 school year.

May 30, 2013

DeLoss Doods, Texas’ men’s athletic director and a long-time proponent of a playoff system for college football, applauded the creation of the College Football Playoff after the 2014 season as a “baby step” in the right direction.

But he said during today’s session at the Big 12 spring meetings that the four-team playoff field needs to be expanded before it can be viewed as a solution to crowning college football’s top team with a minimum of controversy.

“I’m kind of an 8-team person,” Dodds said, discussing his playoff preference. “I think there will be a lot of conversation about the fifth team that didn’t get in or the 11-1 team that didn’t get in because somebody’s 12-0 that maybe wasn’t quite as good as the 11-1 team. If you take eight, then you don’t really have that. The ninth team has got a concern but it’s not really like the fifth team.”

Dodds called implementation of the playoff “a good step” and said he has no interest in serving on the selection committee that will seed the four-team playoff field. But he said there are “a lot of good people out there” who have expressed a desire to serve on the committee and would do a good job in that role.

Dodds said he is not concerned about whether other leagues in the playoff mix schedule eight or nine conference games as part of their regular seasons. He also said Big 12 officials have not been pressured by administrators in other leagues to add a championship game to help determine their champion.

As a 10-member league, the Big 12 is the lone conference in the playoff mix that will not stage a championship game to help finalize its playoff representative(s).

“Some years, it’s going to be unlevel in our favor. Some years, it’s going to be unlevel in their favor,” Dodds said about the lack of a title game in football. “Anybody that tries to change that is going to get bit a few years later.”

May 02, 2013

Texas has added Martez Walker, a left-handed guard from Detroit, Mich, to its men’s basketball signing class, coach Rich Barnes announced today. Walker, who averaged 20.4 points per game last season for Pershing High School, is the fourth guard in a four-player class that Barnes described as being the culmination of a “concerted effort to improve our skill and athleticism on the perimeter.”

Texas’ top two scorers from last year’s 16-18 team, guards Myck Kabongo and Sheldon McClellan, will not return next season. Kabongo opted for early entry in the NBA draft and McClellan has announced plans to transfer to another school.

April 26, 2013

New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton said team officials were most impressed with the football IQ of Kenny Vaccaro, the former Texas safety the team selected with the 15th overall pick in Thursday night’s opening session of the 2013 NFL Draft.

Vaccaro, a big hitter known for his versatility during this college career, had success a blitzer, a run stopper and a cover man at Texas.

“He’s got very good football intelligence,” Payton said. “Part of being a pressure guy from the back end is anticipation, snap count and disguise. I think he’s an instinctive player, and you see that on tape. He’s got a high football IQ. I think that’s important ... He’s had a lot of snaps down over the slot and a lot of snaps where they were in the base package as opposed to the nickel package. He’s got that toughness and suddenness that you’d like at that position.”

Vaccaro becomes the 12th defensive back from Texas on an active NFL roster, most of any school, and is the first Longhorn to be taken in the first round since 2010, when Seattle selected safety Earl Thomas.

Ironically, Vaccaro said he’s already talked to Thomas about adjusting to the NFL and plans to follow his advice.

“Earl Thomas told me to come in, have a chip on my shoulder and put an impact on this league,” Vaccaro said. “(Thomas said), ‘Don’t just sit around and wait for someone else to take your job.’ I am excited ... This is just the beginning. I am ready to do whatever the Saints want me to do.”